From Pinterest to Reality {A dress}

There are many reasons why I am not a math teacher but measuring just might be one fo them. I was so excited to drag out my sewing machine from its long hiatus in the hall closet and work on a project for Elle. Plus the pospect of some baby free time thanks to my inlaws I knew I could whip out a couple dresses. My 15 month old is just now fitting into 12 month clothing so I followed the 12 month guide on my pattern cutting a fabric length of 19 inches knowing I would hem an inch off the bottom and an inch of the top for the ties. That makes 17 inches give or take and my baby is 29 inches tall so her dress should be knee length right...
From Pinterest:

ShwinandShwin Blog via Pinterest

To Reality:

Her picture is a dress from the Gap and then a link to a tutorial for a dress, I knew I couldn't tackle sleeves so I decided just to add tulle to the bottom of my pillowcase dress which I can do with my eyes closed. I just tacked pleats on and decided another row was needed for fullness. They came out so cute--even if they are evening gown length!

From Pinterest to Reality {Halloween Decor}

Although our daytime temperatures have been near 80 most days the calendar says it is fall and it is even close to Halloween. So I decided it is time to get in gear.

From Pinterest:
I was totally inspired by this first picture but we don't have a mantle and I couldn't find the lighted branches. So I turned instead to another pinterest fave--subway art.

SewEllen via Chelsey Miller via Pinterest

eighteen25 via Pinterest

To Reality:
I printed and framed my subway art print--choosing the purple option. We don't ahve a Costco but I got a coupon from Walgreens so it wasn't too bad and Hobby Lobby was having a sale. I made these countdown blocks last Halloween and we put up my hubby's favorite--Peanuts! This time the Great Pumpkin scene! Bring on the candy!!

From Pinterest to Reality {Teacher's Gift}

On a morning quite like this a year ago, we all drove crying to our first day of daycare--OK I was doing the crying. I knew I couldn't hack the stay at home mom thing and stay sane and I really like my job as a middle school teacher and yet I couldn't quite get comfortable with the idea of leaving my baby with someone else. But truthfully, I haven't looked back since that first morning and that is because of Miss Jen. Elle's teacher loves her and cares for her all day long, and Elle loves her back. She has been part of our family and helped us with eating struggles, napping struggles, and now the great sippy cup stalemate. She was even the one who pointed out the ear infection signs I was missing. So I knew I had to honor her somehow. And I have many things pinned to get me started. I kept coming back to these crayon letters.

From Pinterest:

testosteronetimesthree via Pinterest

To Reality:

This craft is actually quite easy to make. And truthfully I made it months ago when crayons were on sale for back to school. I bought a wooden letter and got out my glue gun and exacto knife and went to work. It is a little messy while making it--as you will have crayon shavings everywhere. And I couldn't quite get my finished letter to lay flat in my shadow box--an open frame might work better but I wanted stability. Since I had a black background, I jist wrote on a wooden tag and pinned that in there as well.

From Pinterest to Reality: Halloween Crafts

I am addicted to Pinterest!
In case you don't know what it is, it is a social networking site that allows you to "pin" pictures instead of bookmarking a website. You "pin" to boards to categorize your ideas.
I spend a lot of time "pinning" and not so much doing, so I decided to dedicate the next 30 days to trying to do some of my pins. So here we go...

My PIN via eighteen25 via Pinterest

My Reality! Pretty inexpensive, the tags are a free printable and I already had the ribbon and distressing ink. The small hand sanitizers were 8 for $5 and the larger soaps were on sale for $2.85! A lovely surprise for my coworkers this am!!

Scrapping Elle's Birthday

I clipped images of people's birthday wishes from my facebook page and then used a picture of her as a background.
The second one is using SimplyTiffany's 52 Templates 19 and Meredith Cardall's What a Hoot Kit. I really like how much space I had to journal and use 6 pictures from the day--I think it really tells the story of her party!

Scrapping 12 Months!!

Thanks to the free kit on Design House Digital Today--Kate Teague's Just Circles. I could make this page in about 30 minutes. The papers and elements are from Meredith Cardall's What a Hoot!

look what I made

Using this tutorial, I tried my hand at some subway art for Elle's party this weekend. I matched the colors to her invite and the fonts are Hoswer, Crazy Milktop Girl, and Chewy Stewie!

Pinnable Me--On my Craft List

Etsy via me via Pinterest
i want to use this fabric to make these

Sewing in No man's Land via me via Pinterest


and I would love to try these
JameeHomemakerBlog via Kelly Rogers via Pinterest

Join the link up party at paw prints and pastry bags

Scapping Elle's Discovery of a Mirror

Simply Tiffany Template 12(from her blog) and Meredith Cardall Designs Poppy Kit

Crafting for Easter

So I have bookmarks and pins galore on crafts I was going to make for Easter. This is the one I have actually got done so far...
and it took me less than 5 minutes!

Here was my inspiration...

Credit

I bought some peanut M and M's, Hershey's Eggs, Peeps, and Easter Marshmallows at the store. I had this cool vase from my Birthday flowers. I poured in a layer of M and Ms, chocolate eggs, more M and M's, more eggs than the marshmallows and created a place for the peeps to stand up in. Tied a ribbon around it and put it on my table! I found some printable tags I liked but haven't used them yet!

Crafting for Elle: The alphabet!

So I sent my friend Shelley of SingleStoneStudios this picture

and explained that I wanted to do something like it, but I didn't have the wall space for all the individual squares and I needed some help with the vinyl. I had previously made this on a canvas for Elle's room(Nursery Tour Video), so I swapped the colors and made this alphabet canvas


--now I just need Kevin to put some wire on the back and actually hang it up!
Thanks Shelley for making my vision a reality!

Love in the Air

I made a Valentine's countdown and last night Kevin and I had to make and exchange Valentines for under a dollar. Well thanks to the girls over at eighteen25, I had this download and made this!

2010 in Pictures

Found this very cool template by Splendid Fiins and added a paper from the And Everything Nice Kit.

Christmas Countdown--for the hubby

Inspired by this post from the Dating Divas and some freebies from Just So Scrappy, I put this countdown together for Kevin. It is full of compliments and expressions of gratitude, a few gifts of service from me to him, and a couple mini-dates. And yes it only has 18 days, as we are leaving for CA on the 18th!

Digital Scrapping Our Halloween

Golden Girls Fright Night Kit and Custom Cutie--template inspired by one on her blog!